Final Fantasy VIII: The Third Knight
by MoridinBelmont
Summary: A new student in garden meets a girl with a secret.  One that could potentially set off another war.  Rated M because I don't know what will happen.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any characters that follow other than Kain, and I'm borrowing Selene. I realize that one weapon here doesn't belong, and I don't care.

Our story starts in an unlikely place: the cafeteria. The new guy was just getting to the front of the line as a man with a tattoo on the side of his face comes barreling in. "Hold up! I'm here!" Without seeing the kid, this man blows right by, knocking him over. "Jeez, this is the third time today. What is it with these people and hot-dogs?" He heard a chuckle, "You're obviously new here. Balamb garden's hot-dogs are the best." He looked up to see a redheaded girl, about seventeen, offering him a hand up. He stared for a second, then stood and brushed himself off. "It's still just food. What kind of garden is this, that the students have time to bicker over a hot-dog?" The girl laughed, "That's really just Instructor Dincht. He spent most of the Sorceress War trying to get at them, and he refuses to give up."

At that time, the tattooed man came shuffling by, slumped over in defeat, "You'll get 'em next time, Zell." He looked up, "Hey, I'm an instructor, Selene. You gotta call me Mr. Dincht." Selene smirked, "Not on your life. I remember our time in Balamb too well. You still climb street signs?" Zell turned red, "No..." Then he straightened and walked off, trying to reclaim his dignity. The boy watched him leave, then turned to the girl, "He's an instructor?" Selene chuckled and nodded, "Yup. He's a goofball, but he's a strong fighter. Don't worry, though, not all the instructors are like that." He thought about that, then pushed it to the back of his mind, "So, you're Selene? Nice to meet you." She reached out to shake his hand, then started when he kissed the back of hers. He noticed the flush on her cheeks, and smiled. She quickly composed herself and took her hand back, "Well, new guy, you know me, so what's your name?" He stepped back and sketched a quick bow, "I, am Kain Tarvos, at your service, ma'am."

As Kain stood, he noticed Selene averting her eyes. But the sudden turn of her head revealed a chocobo tattoo on the side of her neck. Kain grinned and filed this information away for later. "Now, lady Selene, if I may beg a favor. I seem to be lost in this place. Can you take me to the commander's office? I need to report in and receive my room number." She nodded and began walking off, while Kain grabbed a backpack and wrapped bundle off the floor. As they began walking around, he noticed that the garden was arranged in a large circle. Much easier to navigate then his previous home of Galbadia garden. When they reached the front, Selene stopped in front of the directory and asked, "Okay, I know you couldn't have been lost because we have a map right in the front of the garden. So do you want to tell me what you were really doing hanging around?" Kain nodded at the question, then said, "I came in from the parking lot, so I didn't pass your map. Any other rude questions you'd like to ask?"

She shrank back a little, then stood straight and smiled,"Sorry. There's just too many skirt chasers around here for me to let my guard down. The commander's office is up that elevator on the third floor." Kain nodded curtly, and took off toward the elevator. After he handed in his notice of transfer and received his room assignment from commander Leonhart, he went to pack his stuff up and find the training area. He tossed the backpack with his clothes in it onto the bed, dug around to find his training clothes, and changed quickly. He headed out to the training area dressed in a white t-shirt and carpenter jeans, the bundle holding his weapon leaning over his shoulder. He paused to ask for directions from a faculty member, and after receiving a curt dismissal, resolved to play some nasty prank on the jerks of Balamb faculty. He eventually made it to the training area and walked through the doors, looking around at the trees and bushes that could hide any sort of beasties. Closing his eyes briefly, he focused his internal energy into the pattern necessary for a Scan spell, then stretched it a little.

The resulting pulse of magic blinked to show the locations of each monster in the area. Satisfied that no creatures were withing striking distance, he carefully unwrapped his weapon, sliding his fingers along the blade to test the edge. He stood and slung his gunblade over his shoulder, holding the stock lightly with his finger off the trigger. Kain was proud of his sword, different from the two sorceress knights' who made the weapon famous. His was fashioned from a shotgun stock, and the blade was slightly serrated, to rip into enemies. His was also double edged, ensuring whichever way he swung, something was going to die. He started forward, settling into an easy walk that kept his footing steady in case of ambush, and thrust his blade into the nearby bushes. An answering screech told him he'd impaled a Grat, a fairly weak monster, with only rudimentary status spells. Kain sneered and ripped his weapon upward, cleaving the plant creature in two, and continued hunting. After an hour of walking around, he'd significantly reduced the Grat population, but Kain was getting agitated. He'd been told that there were T-Rexaurs in the area, but so far he'd found none.

Giving up with a disgusted sound, he turned to head back and nearly run into the girl from before. "Whoa! Didn't see you there." She smirked, "You need to be more alert in the Training area, new guy." Kain shook his head, "Well, the Grats around here aren't anything dangerous, and I'm starting to think I was lied to when they said there were Rexaurs in here. I'm thinking of heading back." Selene gave him a look, "You're actually looking for a Rexaur?" Kain swung his sword lightly, "Of course, how else am I supposed to get any practice around here? Balamb has the weakest monsters in the world." She nodded, "True. Okay, well I can't in good conscience let you fight one alone. I'll go with you." That was when Kain noticed the stock of an assault rifle strapped to the girl's back. "Alright then, come on. I hope you know where the damn things are." She led him across a few more areas, picking off the grats along the way, until they came to a space with a broken fence nearby. They stopped to rest for a minute, leaning against some rocks. "You're a good shot with that. I'm glad you came along." Selene smirked, "One of the skirt chasers I told you about is a marksman. Just wiggle a little in front of him, say please, and you've got a shooting teacher." Kain chuckled at the thought of this girl 'wiggling' for anyone. Finally, after a few minutes, they heard a rumbling noise coming closer. Kain stood up, stepping in front of Selene quickly, and checked the special bangle he wore that allowed him to use para-magic without a GF. Satisfied that all was ready, he got into his battle stance, weapon over his shoulder, and placed his hand on the trigger.

"When he comes through the trees, take out his eyes. With him blind we stand a better chance." Selene just nodded, "Keep an eye on the tail, new guy." Kain groaned as the Rexaur emerged from the trees, "I told you already, chocobo girl, my name is Kain." He raced forward as she gasped, clapping a hand to her neck before remembering to shoot. Just as the dinosaur roared in pain at it's eyes being blasted, Kain closed in and ripped into the beast's leg with a downward strike on the knee. Just as he felt the blade start to slow halfway through, he pulled the trigger of his gunblade. The resulting explosion sent jarring vibrations up the blade and acted as a saw, tearing through the rest of the way. As the Rexaur began to fall, it twisted sharply on it's good leg, swinging it's tail at the swordsman. He didn't see until it was almost too late, however, and all he could do was block to minimize the damage. Just about the time he expected to get sent flying, however, Selene shot forward, twirling her gun. The parts shifted and reset, revealing a short blade at the end. She planted her feet next to Kain and they managed to lessen the impact on both of them.

Before he could ask any questions however, the reptile began thrashing about, trying to regain it's feet. The pair raced over to it's neck and severed the arteries in a smooth dual strike. The monster quickly bled out and Kain started digging into the creature's side, harvesting his dino bone reward. Later, on their way back into the garden proper, Kain turned to look at the redhead, "That's a really interesting weapon you got." Selene smiled, "Isn't it, though? I had help from a few engineer friends of mine. It's the new model gunblade." Kain glanced down at his weapon, wrapped back in it's cloth, "New model, huh? I don't see what's wrong with the old one." She shook her head, "There's nothing wrong with it, it's just too heavy for a girl to use properly. And it's not fair that all gunblade masters be men, so I made this." Kain accepted this explanation, "So, what do you call this new model?" She smiled, "Moon." Kain quickly settled into life at Balamb garden, waiting for his turn at the SeeD exam.

He had unfortunately finished his training at Galbadia early, and none of the students at Balamb were ready yet. To keep up appearances, he sat in on classes, and even helped with the garden Festival. Eventually, he put in a request to be prepped for a GF, and was immediately approved. Now, the day had come for him to receive his GF. He scrolled down the list, looking for a certain one. When he found it, he saw the label "Battle GF. Must defeat to obtain. Recommended that you choose a partner for this operation." Kain knew exactly who he wanted to help, and quickly filled in the form. In an hour, Selene showed up in her usual black tank top and jeans, Moon strapped across her back. "So the great Kain Tarvos needs help against a little GF? Which one did you pick, Shiva?" Kain waited for her to finish insulting him, then said simply, "Minotaur brothers." She stopped short, "Those are mid-level GF, and you have no magic." He smiled, "That's what's gonna make it fun." She stared for a minute, then shook her head and laughed, "You are by far the most interesting guy here, except for Seifer." They grabbed their weapons and waited for the doors to open and the GFs to attack. "Wanna know something?" He asked, causing Selene to glance over, "I was in Garden when Seifer was commanding the Sorceress army. He's the reason I picked a gunblade." She stared for a second, then chuckled, "I should have known."

Just then, the doors burst open and a large minotaur stood towering over the pair, "ARE YOU THE KIDS LOOKING FOR OUR POWER?" Kain nodded and smiled, "Yup, that's us. Let's have a good fight, alright?" The younger brother Sacred nodded and looked over his shoulder, "I LIKE THIS GUY BRO, ARE YOU SURE WE HAVE TO FIGHT HIM FIRST?" A sigh could be heard from the shadows before a smaller minotaur holding his mace over his shoulder came forward, "of course we do, sacred. if we don't, how will we know if he's strong enough to use us?" "...GOOD POINT. ALRIGHT, LET'S DO IT!" The larger one charged in, swinging his mace in a swooping horizontal strike. Selene jumped over the weapon, and Kain held his weapon up sidearm, blocking the sharp spikes with the flat of his blade, "Yo, Selene! You want the older or younger brother?" The girl stood on the shaft of the GFs weapon, looking thoughtful, "Which one is this big guy?" Kain looked up, "This is Sacred, the younger of the minotaur brothers." She nodded, "Alright, I'll take him. You go for small fry over there." Kain rolled his eyes, but pushed off from the mace and charged toward Minotaur, the older of the two. "I know better than to judge you by your size, so I expect the same courtesy." The little guy smiled and grabbed his mace, "well said, human. very well, come on." Kain struck quickly, but the GF parried his blow and struck back with a jab to his stomach.

He jumped back to lessen the blow, then charged forward and kicked out at the beast's ankle, when he went to jump, Kain threw a baseball swing into his stomach, pulling the trigger. Minotaur wasn't able to get his weapon around to block quickly enough, so he took the full impact of the attack, and flew back into the wall. On the other side of the room, Selene was picking off Sacred slowly, dodging around the big GFs swings with feline grace. She rolled under a strike, lashing out and attacking his leg. Then, in a single move, she leaped up and spun her weapon, reverting it to gun form. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small yellow stone. Crumbling it in her hand, the yellow glow spread across her body, and fired a single bullet into the air. Kain felt the telltale rise of energy that accompanied a Limit Break. Then, a small red circle began expanding over their heads, forming into a moon. Just as it reached full size, the light began to dim to darkness. Suddenly, Kain felt a whoosh right by his shoulder, and something hit Minotaur like a truck. He scrambled back to stay out of the way of the massive scuffle that erupted with the GF and whatever the shape was. He backed into a ready stance and closed his eyes, listening for any approaching movement. This was the only way he knew that Sacred was having the same problem as his brother.

After a few minutes, the cacophony died, and the light began to return. In the artificial twilight, he saw what appeared to be a large group of people scurrying into a corner. Just as the last one was about to disappear, he turned and stared straight into Kain's eyes, smiling wide. And the only thought that came to his head was, "Are his fangs glowing?" The light finally returned to the room and he noticed that something was different about the GF duo. They had a slight green tinge to them, the obvious sign of zombification. That's when Kain remembered, the minotaur brothers have been reported to heal constantly while in contact with the ground. And if the pair were to be zombified. . . "Brilliant. Why didn't I think of this? Way to go, Selene!" She glanced over during a quick reload and said, "Shut up and kill it, new guy!" He stuck his tongue out at her and barreled into the now undead Minotaur, knocking him to the ground. Now, with more of his body in contact with the earth, the healing process is accelerated, and Minotaur's body began to rapidly degenerate. So with a foot on the beast's chest, Kain brought his weapon up and cleaved his head from his shoulders. The older brother began to fade out, and he turned to help Selene, he saw her give a little pirouette, spinning her gunblade back into a sword, and stab Sacred in the throat. "I think we pass." He said, smiling. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced at me, "You think?" He flicked some ichor off his blade at her and walked to the door, smirking at her squeal.

They came into the command room and saluted Trabian headmistress Tilmitt, who had come down to Balamb for a meeting with commander Leonhart and volunteered to oversee the new trainees. "Way to go, you guys!" She bounced and yelled before seeing the tech support guy look over at her. "I mean, well done. You've both been selected to receive a GF, thanks to excellence on both your parts. Ms. Night, you may select your GF from the registry while Mr. Tarvos junctions the brothers." Selene gave another salute before walking to the nearest terminal, while Kain stepped over to the techie and grabbed the small horn shaped talisman that he removed from the machine. He grabbed the trinket that housed the spirits of the brothers and focused, drawing the energy into himself. There was a slight pain in his head, when the GFs overlapped his memory, then relief and two voices could be heard in his head. "WAY TO GO ON THAT FIGHT. BUT YOU NEED TO LEARN TO FIGHT YOUR OWN BATTLES, TOO." Sacred trumpeted from his brain. "I know, dammit, but for now, I needed the help. True strength is accepting help, just as much as fighting on your own." Kain responded. That seemed to satisfy him, and they quieted. After that exchange, he looked over to see Selene grasping a small shield talisman. "Can you guys identify the GF in that talisman?" There was silence, followed by, "it's carbuncle. not a bad choice." He nodded and waited for her to finish her introductions, then flashed her the thumbs up.

Read and Review, folks. I won't be adding any chapters if I don't get some feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that day in the cafeteria, Kain sat enjoying a moment of silence. It had taken a while before Sacred was content to stay quiet inside his brain, and finally he could hear himself think. But unfortunately, someone or something up there didn't like him. "How d'you like your new GF?" He groaned and looked up. Sitting across from him was counselor Rinoa, dressed in her usual blue sweater. "One of them is just too loud. Minotaur is easy to deal with, but his brother has yelling problems." Rinoa chuckled, "Zell said he used to have the same problem with them, the first time we found them." Kain leaned forward, "Did he happen to say how he got him to quiet down?" This time she laughed hard, "He said he had to scream him down!" He sat back, closing his eyes, "Oh, good lord."

The laughter stopped, "Well, why did you pick the brothers if you couldn't handle the yelling?" Kain pulled back the neck of his white t-shirt to show a scar shaped like a circle with bull horns. "This scar happened three days after I was named Tarvos. In some scary remote place that my parents have never been to, it means bull. It's sorta become my badge, like the lion is for the commander, or your wings are for you." She nodded, "Okay, I sorta get it. But you're gonna have to find some way to cope, if you wanna be a SeeD here. We can't have you distracted during a crucial mission." Kain gave her a deadpan stare, "I'm not such a rookie that I'll let a couple of crazy bulls endanger my mission. I thank you for your concern, but I can find some way to deal with this. Now I need to go practice with my new-found power."

He stood and turned to go, refusing to look back and ruin his cool exit. Once out in the hall, he paused and closed his eyes, focusing in toward the part of his brain housing his new companions. "Okay guys, I know you can junction magic to enhance certain physical abilities with GFs, which can you do?" Luckily, it was Minotaur who answered, "We can raise your constitution, strength, and resistance to magic. We also give you the ability to add an element to your attack." He nodded and continued to the front gate of the garden.

Kain felt much stronger after junctioning his new spells, and now he strolled through the forest looking for caterchipillars. His gunblade felt lighter on his shoulder and he was in a marvelous mood when he heard a noise that completely threw him off. "Kweh?" he looked around confusedly, "Wark? What the hell?" Kain picked through some bushes and followed the sound. As he stumbled over a root and caught himself, he saw what had him so confused. Standing in a clearing for no discernible reason was a chocobo. Kain rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, and sure enough it was still there when he looked again.

Kain reversed his grip on his weapon and walked into the clearing, staying on the edge until the bird noticed him. "Hey there, how did you get all the way out here? Chocobos don't fly, as far as I know." He inched forward, careful to keep his movements small. The bird watched him warily, and Kain knew one wrong move would result in a kick like he'd only felt once, and never wanted to experience again. So he kept his slow pace until he was right beside the creature, then raised his hand slowly to the bird's neck. He was starting to feel more confident, since he hadn't gone flying yet, and rubbed the chocobo's feathers comfortingly, "You're obviously a well fed bird, but I didn't think greens grew out here. What have you been eating, big bird?"

The chocobo tilted it's head in a sort of pointing gesture, and Kain saw a bucket and brush off to the side of the clearing. Upon closer inspection, he noticed some pieces of ghysal greens in the bottom of the bucket, and the brush was one of the soft bristle feather brushes. "So someone knows you're here, birdy. But who?" The bird warbled, almost like it was answering. "Sorry, birdy, but I don't understand. To tell the truth, I kinda hope it's this girl I met back in Garden. She's got a picture of you on her neck, see, and she's really strong. It's obvious she'll make SeeD, no problem. And just between us, she's pretty good looking, too." The bird let out a big "Wark", and Kain turned to see a smug looking Selene standing behind him. "Oh, shit."

"So, you think I'm good looking, huh?" Kain sputtered a bit, causing Selene to grin wider, before he was saved from answering by a pack of caterchipillars. "Monsters!" He yelled, swinging his sword in a large arc. He cut into a bug that was lunging for the chocobo, then spun and impaled another as it turned toward him. He focused and 'yanked' the energy from the monster's dying body, drawing cure spells. He stocked twenty before the thing died, and slung the beast from his blade, turning to see that Selene had killed almost all the others. "Wait!" He stopped her just as she went to give the deathblow to the last of them, "I need that last one alive for a minute." She looked for a second like she was going to stab it anyway, then stepped back, holstering Moon with a flourish.

Once he had all the cure spells he could hold, Kain dispatched the caterchipillar and started to walk off. "Hold on, you can't just leave like that." Kain glanced over his shoulder at the girl, "And just why not?" This caused Selene to blush a little, and he chuckled, "Yeah, I do think you're cute. But I have other things I have to take care of, too. Instructor Almasy said he had something for me to do." This caused Selene's head to snap up, "Seifer wanted something from you? What?" This surprised Kain a little, "I don't know, I still have to go see him. You're welcome to come along, if you want." She quickly spun an about face and marched toward Garden, leaving Kain behind. "Well, hold on! You gotta wait for me." He hurried after her.

Once they made it back to garden, they headed toward the dormitories to stash their weapons in their rooms. Kain's was on the way to hers, and he ducked inside to set his blade on the special stand. Selene poked her head into his room and glanced around, "Not very tidy, are you?" Kain stood and checked his room. His items were neatly arranged in their cabinets, his sword on the stand, and his books on the shelves. "I don't know what you're talking about." She grabbed a shirt off the ground with the barrel of Moon and said, "You have clothes scattered everywhere. Don't you ever clean up?" "Ah," Kain shrugged, "when I run out of stuff to wear, all of this'll get washed." She just shook her head and they left for her room.

Just as they reached her door, she whirled around and stopped him, "Wait out here." Kain was a little confused, but said, "Alright, fine." He leaned against the wall and waited a moment for her to get away from her door, then ducked inside and was assaulted with visions of stuffed animal mountains. "Holy hell." Selene squeaked and looked back, "What are you doing! I told you to stay outside! Out, now!" Kain immediately retreated and went back to his spot on the wall, half-expecting her to bolt outside and shoot him. But she just stalked out the door and gave him a death glare, "If you ever. Tell anyone what you saw. I will kill you." He wholeheartedly believed her, and nodded, "Yes, ma'am." They walked in silence for a while, each on the other side of the hallway, before Kain glanced over and said, "You know-" but a sudden flare of intense heat stopped him in his tracks.

Selene stalked ahead for a few steps, then turned and snapped, "What?" Kain just looked at her for a moment, then shook his head, continuing onward. He could feel her gaze boring a hole into the back of his head, but he refused to turn and look. After what felt like an eternity, they reached the elevator, and Kain seriously contemplated shoving her inside then running. But he realized that may only increase her ire, and instead just pressed the button for the second floor and waited. As they stood, he decided to instead scroll through the magics he'd collected for the day, and found that somewhere down the road he had picked up a blizzard spell. Without putting too much thought into it, he thinned the wave frequency for the spell and released, dropping the temperature back to bearable levels.

They continued on their way to the classroom and stepped in quietly, until Selene saw the instructor leaning in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. Instantly, the heat dropped from the air, causing Kain's spell to make it cold, and she pranced up to the desk. "Good afternoon, instructor Almasy." He seemed surprised for a moment, then adopted his usual cocky grin, "Well, if it isn't the gunblader girl? How's chicken wuss doing?" She giggled, "Oh, you know him. Acting all hotheaded and getting into trouble." The failed knight laughed, "Yeah, that's Zell. So what are you doing up here? I called for the transfer student." Selene glanced over and Seifer's gaze dropped on Kain, who was staring at Selene in slack-jawed amazement. "It's about time, kid. I called almost an hour ago. Where were you?"

Kain jerked out of his stupor and said, "I was out getting some magic to junction. No point in having the GF if you don't enjoy the perks, right?" Seifer nodded, "Good way to think. Reminds me of me, when I was starting out. But anyway, I guess it's good that you brought the girl with you. It seems you both qualify for your SeeD exam early, and it just so happens that we have a job for a small team that we can use as a quick test." He stood and grabbed a file from the desk, tossing it to Kain. "It looks like there are a few people in Esthar who don't like the fact that the president has such a strong connection with an outside entity. Not to mention all the crap I pulled back during the Sorceress War. So they've become a Separatist movement, hoping to overthrow the president and take control. We need you two to get in, find the leaders, and eliminate them."

Kain flipped through the file, "Seems straightforward enough, but it looks like there's a bonus for rescuing a certain hostage, any intel on that?" Seifer nodded while Kain passed the file over to Selene, "Yeah, it looks like your targets have kidnapped the headmaster of Galbadia garden, to keep them out of this conflict. In order to keep stable relations with the other gardens, we have made it known that we will try to return the headmaster to the garden. On that end, we have a student from Trabia here to take his exam. He'll be your support in this mission. Hey, come on in!"

The door swiped open and a guy walked in with a large hammer over his shoulder. He wore a leather bomber jacket and a gray shirt. His black pants were wrapped with three belts, and he had heavy boots on. "Someone's trying to copy the commander." Kain burst out laughing and the newcomer turned to Seifer, "Can I kill him?" Seifer seemed amused by Kain's laughter, "I'm not sure you could, kid. But I encourage competition between students, so go ahead." With that, the guy reached into his jacket, put on a pair of sunglasses, and swung the maul from his shoulder at him. Quickly rolling, Kain jumped to his feet and facepalmed, laughing just to annoy him now. The man started wildly swinging his hammer, trying to squash the jerk's face in.

After three holes in the wall and Kain nearly passing out from lack of oxygen, Selene stepped in and put an end to the conflict. "Will you both quit it? You're both acting like children." Immediately Kain dropped the act and stood straight, "Oh, come on, look at him! Leather jacket, unnecessary belts? Who else does that?" Selene smacked him on the arm, "It doesn't mean you have to be an ass about it!" She turned to the new guy, "Sorry about him, he gets bored easy. I'm Selene Night." He settled his hammer back on his shoulder and grabbed her outstretched hand, kissing the back, "Casimir Clement, my lady." She stood silently for a moment, then took her hand back and slapped him, "Now that the niceties are out of the way, you're just as much to blame as Kain. You need to get better control of yourself if you're gonna work with us."

Casimir pushed his glasses up his nose, "Of course, darling. I wouldn't want to upset you, now would I?" Kain, who had been leaning on the desk watching, grinned, "Kiss-ass." Casimir glanced over, "But I would really like to lay my hammer on his skull sometime." Selene just sighed and walked back to the file, "So we've got our briefing, and a bonus for this headmaster side job. The usual pay?" Seifer smiled, "Business as usual, huh? Alright, you get this done and I'll see about it. Now we've got Messenger Gir- I mean, Selphie, piloting the Ragnarok for you, so you'll get into Esthar quickly. Once you touch down, you'll be cut off from garden until you finish the mission. If you aren't done within the week, we'll assume you've failed and send in the next team. Dismissed." The three automatically saluted, and walked out. Kain walked ahead a few steps, then turned, "I'll go grab your weapon out of your room, Selene. Why don't you show Cassie here where we park the airship?"

And before either of them could say anything, he was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Kain came riding up the Ragnarok's elevator with a grin on his face and Moon slung over his shoulder, "Here you are, Selene." She snatched the weapon away and turned back to Selphie, "Okay, that's all of us, so we can take off." The hyperactive woman threw her hands up and yelled, "Woohoo! Let's ride!" And with a jerk of the controls, they lurched into the air and sped off toward Esthar. Selene picked herself up off the floor and brushed off, "Okay, I'm going to go find a seat belt somewhere." She turned to go and saw Kain curled up in the corner staring intently at his boots. "What's the matter with you?" Kain stayed silent, and she noticed a slight green tinge to his face, "Don't tell me you get motion sickness." He shook his head, "Airsick?" he nodded, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Alright, come on. We can't have you puking on anything in here." Selene hauled the gunblader up by his arm and hit the pressure pad to start the lift. Once the pair were out of sight of the cockpit, his shaking let up a little and he said, "God, I hate flying. This isn't natural." The redhead looked over at him, "You have a pair of bull men living in your head and you call an airship unnatural?"

He glared at her, "Did a person create the bull men?" Selene looked thoughtful, "Well no, but.." Kain waved off her next comment, "No buts. The Guardian Force are a mass of primal energy that govern the planet. This is a machine created by man's own arrogance. It's just not right." She just rolled her eyes and waited for the lift to stop. Once they reached the passenger area, she strapped him into the nearest chair and sat in the seat across the aisle from him. He went silent again for a while, then swallowed audibly and asked, "So what happened to Casimir?" Selene glanced at him, then laid her head back against the seat, "He said he wanted to practice a bit, so I left him in the hangar." They faded back into silence, then Selene managed to fall asleep until Kain threw up all down the aisle. With a sound of disgust, she stood and jumped over her seat to find a mop, leaving Kain curled up in agony. She eventually made her way down to the hangar, looking for a supply closet. "So nice to see you down here, Selene. Is everything okay up top?" She turned to see Casimir leaning against the wall, sipping from a water bottle with sweat dripping down his face.

"Not really," She sighed, "Kain's airsick, and hurled all over the passenger area. Have you seen a supply closet down here?" Cass pointed over to the other wall and she grabbed a mop, bucket, and bottle of solution from the shelves. "Why are you cleaning up after that loser? He can't even handle flying, he doesn't deserve such attention." She looked at him, "He's too sick to clean it up himself, and the longer we leave it there, the harder it'll be to get out the smell. Besides, he's my teammate, he'd do the same for me. Anyway, just because he cuts a pathetic figure in the air doesn't make him a loser. We actually killed a T-Rexaur on his first day in garden." Casimir looked unconvinced, "It's true, he cut it's leg off then slit it's throat while it was trying to get up. And he wasn't even junctioned." The newest member of the team seemed thoughtful after that, and Selene left him to think while she took off in search of water.

She returned a little while later to see Kain in the same condition she left him, and a rank stench permeating the air. "Hyne dammit, is meat all you ever eat? It smells like an animal died in here!" The gunblader groaned, "Hey, there's a few potatoes in there, too." She smacked him over the head with the mop and went to cleaning up. Halfway through Casimir came up from the hangar and stepped over the puddle, leaning on the seat in front of Kain, "Oh, poor baby, getting sick in the big scary airship." Kain growled weakly, "So the kiss-ass has a backbone, huh? I'd like to hear you say that on the ground, you pansy ass Trabia reject." His hand strayed to the shaft of his hammer, but before Selene could tell them to knock it off, the sick boy's arm flashed to the bundle at his side and brought the blade to Casimir's throat. He gave a thin smile and taunted, "Even at this level, I surpass you." Cass's face flamed red and Selene honestly thought one of them was about to die, until the hammer wielding youth hissed, "You're lucky there's a lady present, otherwise I'd kill you where you lie." Kain chuckled, "Oh, don't let her stop you from committing suicide. Come on, I'll send you to the reaper right now." Finally, the redhead got tired of all the chatter and burst, "Alright, that's enough! Both of you, give me your weapons! You can have them back when we land. And for the love of all that's holy, you will get along, you hear me!"

Both guys looked at her for a long minute, until Kain eased his blade from Casimir's neck and handed the weapon to her. The Trabian also grabbed his hammer and flipped it around to hand off. Selene hadn't counted on the weight of the two, however, and nearly dropped them in the puddle of vomit. But she managed to right herself, and said, "Kain, since you have so much energy you can finish cleaning this mess. Casimir, you go and sit in the cockpit, and don't let me catch you back down here. I swear, I almost don't mind failing this exam, if it means I don't have to deal with you two anymore." The gunblader stood and grabbed the mop, head hung low, and mumbled an apology as he began cleaning. Selene and Casimir stepped onto the elevator and headed up first, dropping the Trabian off with instructions to Selphie not to let him out of her sight until they reached Esthar. Then she stashed the weapons in the closet where she got the mop and went back up to check on Kain. Unfortunately, he had gotten sick again while she was gone, and was now cleaning a bigger puddle than when she left. "Ugh, this is going to be a long trip."

Later, when they touched down in the Esthar Air-station, Kain bolted from the craft and began crazily kissing the ground, "I am NEVER, getting back on that thing!" Selene came out carrying his gunblade, which he had forgotten in his haste to get off. "Will you quit complaining? Besides, we're riding this back once we finish the mission, anyway." He stood up and snatched his blade from her, "I most certainly will not! You can fly in the deathtrap, and I'll catch a boat or something. It's not that far across the Horizon Bridge to Fisherman's Horizon." Casimir chose this moment to step into the conversation, "Good, nobody wants to smell that again, anyway. What the hell have you been eating?" Before the two could get into it, however, Selphie came blasting out of the hangar, "Okay listen up! Squall set up a meeting for you with his dad in the presidential palace, so you guys need to head there first for intel. Also, they'll have another person there who'll accompany you for this mission. Once you've finished, they'll ride with you guys back to garden and report on the mission. Have fun, fellas!" Then she raced back into the ship, raised the ramp, and flew off into the distance.

"Well, shit," Kain said, "guess this means we should get moving." Casimir nodded, "But there's no hurry, they gave us a week to finish the job. Let's walk to the palace, give us a chance to sight-see." Selene sighed, "You two are so unprofessional." Kain turned to her, "Not really, but this time it's also got a purpose. I can't keep carting this thing around in a tarp," He gestured toward his gunblade, "so I need to see about a sheath." Selene shook her head, "I don't know why you hadn't done that already. It takes years to master a gunblade, why are you just now thinking about a sheath?" He shrugged, "I dunno." The redhead facepalmed and said, "Fine, we'll walk as far as the market, but after that we catch one of those plate things and head straight to the Presidential Palace. Got that?" The guys nodded and immediately started out, Cass flinging his head back and forth in an effort to see everything he could. Selene caught up with Kain and they walked in silence for a few minutes, then he said, "Thanks for that, back on the airship. I appreciate it."

She shrugged, "Like I told Cass, you'd do the same for me. But if you don't mind me asking, why'd you ask me about my weapon's name, and then never tell me your's?" He chuckled, "You just didn't seem interested, so I didn't bring it up. I don't like to bore people talking about things they don't wanna know. Just like I won't ask about something people don't wanna talk about." The gunblader girl nodded expectantly, and walked silently for a few seconds, waiting for him to tell her. Then she nudged him, "Well?" He glanced over, "Hm?" She smacked his arm, "Tell me, you goon!" Kain laughed, "Alright, alright. All you had to do was ask, jeez! This is Gugalana. I named it after a story I heard once." The redhead snorted, "Gugalana? That's a stupid name! What kind of story could you possibly hear to name your weapon Gugalana?" He stopped and looked over at her, leaning against the railing, "There was once a deity named Gugalana, who was the brother in law to a goddess. This goddess fell for a man, a man who refused her. In her rage, she asked Gugalana to kill this man, who would refuse her love, and he set out to do just that. But this man killed him instead, and as the goddess looked on, shook the dismembered leg of Gugalana at her, shouting that he would do the same to her if he caught her. This man was later struck down for his impudence. But what I took from the story is that even gods may fall to a man, if they are not careful, and a man may be struck down in the height of arrogance. The name is a reminder of that."

Selene stared at Kain for a moment, "You have some really deep moments, sometimes." He smiled, "Yeah, but then I get distracted and I'm back to myself." Cass snorted, "It'd be better for everyone if you'd stop getting distracted." He glanced over at the Trabian, "I guess you didn't hear the story, oh superior one." Cass spun his hammer a little, "Who would listen to anything you had to say?" Kain smiled and pushed off from the rail, but Selene snapped, "What is the matter with you? Why can't you be the nice guy that you looked like when we first met?" The gunblader chuckled, "He was nice?" She spun on him, "Shut up!" Cass just shook his head, "I make it a point not to hit on people's girlfriends, so there's no point in acting nice anymore." She tilted her head to the side, "What does that have to do with anything? I'm not anyone's girlfriend." He snorted, "Yeah, so you just let anyone in your room whenever?" "No!" She shouted. Cass nodded and brushed by her, "Exactly." The redhead stalked over to where Kain was trying desperately to control his laughter, "I hope you're proud of yourself." He flashed a huge grin, "Immensely." She shook her head and marched away.

Later, after they had been through the market for Kain to pick up a sheath, and Cass had bought a harness for his hammer, they were speeding across Esthar on the transport plate in silence. Kain had since tried to engage Selene in conversation, but with no success, until finally she snapped and punched him square in the eye. Now he sat on the other side of Cass and flinched every time Selene moved. "Will you stop that? People are going to think I abuse you, or something." Kain, still in a sullen mood, slouched lower and mumbled, "Yes, ma'am."


End file.
